My first immediate critique of Heroine was how fast Mickey went from normal girl -  aside from being adopted, which obviously is alluding to her addiction being genetic - to addict, or rather addicted enough to buy pills off some random lady she met in her pediatrician's office. I understand how fast that progression is, but in terms of a highschool student just beginning to grapple with the perils of opioid addiction, it doesn't feel realistic. There was no buildup to it, I felt like as a reader I was dropped in to the middle of a story, instead of having an established background, etc. Despite this, Heroine does improve, continuing steadfast with Mickey's worsening addiction. Something notable is that McGinnis doesn't try to portray this in a warped poetic way like most novels in this niche do - McGinnis depicts it just the way it is. She's blunt, and straightforward. It made it way easier to digest that Mickey's use of illicit substances wasn't described something like "heroin is a silver serpent, coiling through veins with promises of peace, yet leaving only shadows and a quiet, endless hunger." It was more like, "she shot up and nodded out, and woke up groggy and irritable the next day." Heroine is not notable in a "healing" way. Heroine is notable in that it is raw, and real, showing the hard truths and grim outcomes of drug addiction, especially so young.